Michigan coach targeted in Tuscaloosa lawsuit

Thursday

Mar 25, 2010 at 12:01 AM

Embattled University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez has been served papers as a defendant in a nearly $1 million lawsuit filed in Tuscaloosa Court last month for breach of contract, The Tuscaloosa News has learned.

By Chase Goodbread Sports Writer

TUSCALOOSA | Embattled University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez has been served papers as a defendant in a nearly $1 million lawsuit filed in Tuscaloosa Court last month for breach of contract, The Tuscaloosa News has learned.Rodriguez was named as one of several defendants in the lawsuit that claims that The Legends of Tuscaloosa, LLC., which was formed to develop The Legends of Tuscaloosa condominiums, failed to repay a loan for the $18 million project. The complaint, filed by the West Columbia Trading Company, seeks more than $995,000 on a loan of $1 million, with the balance continuing to compound interest.The Legends of Tuscaloosa is a 60-unit complex located on 12th Street, within easy walking distance of Bryant-Denny Stadium. Rodriguez and others were guarantors on the loan, on which payment was due December 31, 2007, according to the court filing. Also named a defendant was Ron West, an assistant coach at Illinois who served as an assistant along with Rodriguez at Clemson under head coach Tommy Bowden for two seasons beginning in 1999.Rodriguez could not be reached for comment. A school spokesman referred legal questions to his attorney. Hamilton Osborne Jr., who represented Rodriguez in a prior suit, did not return a message.“Each of the defendants made a promise to my client. Likewise, my client made a promise to them, and fulfilled it,” said Tuscaloosa attorney Keith Canterbury, who represents the plaintiff. “This lawsuit is simply about the defendants fulfilling theirs.”The complaint was filed Feb. 23. Rodriguez was served notice of the claim at the UM football offices in Ann Arbor, Mich., on March 1. West is the only defendant who has yet to be served. Court rules provide defendants with 30 days to respond to the complaint, though that window is frequently extended on request.No jury trial has yet been demanded by either party. Absent that demand, the matter would be settled by a judge.The legal action against Rodriguez in Tuscaloosa is similar to that of a separate suit filed last year, in which a condo project in Blacksburg, Va., also resulted in a bad loan claim. In that suit, Nexity Bank of Birmingham sued Rodriguez and others for $3.9 million as guarantors for financing on The Legends of Blacksburg, which was proposed as an 80-unit community near Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium. With that balance also accruing interest, the claim is now in excess of $4 million.One of Rodriguez's partners in both cases, Clegg Lamar Greene -- a former Clemson booster who was disassociated from that school -- faced five felony counts of fraud before his death in October of last year. Greene's son, Jeffrey Greene, is named as a co-defendant in the Tuscaloosa lawsuit.Legal papers filed with the suit also serve notice of intent to take a deposition from Michael L. Brown, Rodriguez's Atlanta-based agent. Brown is named as a manager of Palmetto States Enterprises, a company also named as a defendant in the suit.Brown was involved in Alabama's negotiations to hire Rodriguez after Mike Shula was fired at the end of the 2006 season. Brown met with UA Director of Athletics Mal Moore to try to reach an agreement to bring Rodriguez in as UA's head football coach, but Rodriguez never accepted the terms and elected to stay at West Virginia. Alabama hired Nick Saban in the early days of 2007 to fill the vacancy.The Legends of Tuscaloosa lawsuit is the latest development in an avalanche of bad publicity for Rodriguez since he left West Virginia to become head coach at Michigan after the 2007 season.West Virginia sued the coach in December, 2007, to enforce the buyout in his coaching contract after he took the Michigan job. Rodridguez settled some six months later for the full $4 million value of the buyout.Prior to the 2009 season, the Detroit Free Press newspaper wrote a series of stories that alleged Rodriguez and his staff had broken NCAA rules by forcing players to exceed the NCAA limit of practice hours on a regular basis. After investigating, the NCAA notified Michigan last month that the program was being charged with five major rules violations related to those allegations.Rodriguez is also under fire at Michigan for the team's performance in his two seasons as head coach. The Wolverines went 3-9 in 2008, his first season, and 5-7 last year.

Reach Chase Goodbread at chase.goodbread@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.

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